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How the Populist Moment Will Shape the Debates

The moment and the movements shaping it.

Katrina vanden Heuvel

October 13, 2015

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.(AP Photo / Steven Senne, File, AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin)

Tuesday night, Democrats will finally hold their first presidential debate. Already ideas for the drinking games are piling up. Take a drink for any question mentioning Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server, the FBI or Benghazi. A sip for every time Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee are asked how they expect to win given their lack of support in polls or in money. A drink when the candidates are asked what they think about Vice President Biden getting in the race. Another for every time the candidates are invited to attack someone else on the stage.

Each week we cross-post an excerpt from Katrina vanden Heuvel’s column at the WashingtonPost.com. Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.

And if you want to get plastered quickly, two shots for all if Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is asked in the first five minutes if he really thinks Americans will vote for a socialist. A drink for every time he’s called an outsider or he’s asked if his proposals are “realistic.” A full shot for questions on his writings from decades ago, cheap titillation utterly divorced from his qualifications.

The media narrative on the Democratic race has already congealed. Clinton, the prohibitive favorite, has been sliding in the polls, burdened by the scandals over her private server and her “character.” Sanders, the insurgent, is rising but can’t win because he’s a “socialist.” The remaining three are too far behind to count. Joe Biden, the media wait for you.

Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.

Katrina vanden HeuvelTwitterKatrina vanden Heuvel is editorial director and publisher of The Nation, America’s leading source of progressive politics and culture. She served as editor of the magazine from 1995 to 2019.


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